In Focus

Our vision of the world is defined a great deal by what we focus on. This is demonstrated in a practical way in the 12th-annual "In Focus" juried competition of 75 images from about 60 photographers and digital image-makers who are Palm Beach Photographic Centre members. If you're focused just on winning, then you're missing the point, which is ironically captured in the Best in Show image Day at the Beach, a subtle black and white of three boys in the surf so engaged in play that they notice little else. What the images share is a celebration of our different ways of seeing. Claire Nicholas Garcia captures this perfectly in her Portraits of Pisani — Zambia, an image she saw as she cleaned an elderly man's glasses when she volunteered in an African nursing home. Her portrait focuses on him through the lenses of his glasses, which offer slightly differing perspectives of the man and the vision of both the viewer and the viewed. Among the many photographs, architectural studies, portraiture, nature photography, and still lifes demonstrate the myriad things people find interesting to explore visually. Showing concurrently, "Picture My World" offers photographic images by at-risk Palm Beach County youth ages 10 to 17. As these young photographers offer us images from categories such as "renovation" and "urban," we find beauty in a gritty study of a garbage can and a moment of recognition captured in a candid portrait taken through a storefront's plate glass window. (Through August 9 at Palm Beach Photographic Centre, 55 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach. Call 561-276-9797.)